WebSights features reviews of select sites presenting physics
teaching strategies, as well as shorter announcements of sites of interest to
physics teachers. All sites are copyright by their authors. This column is
available as a web page at <http://PhysicsEd.BuffaloState.Edu/pubs/WebSights/>.
If you have
successfully used a site to teach physics that you feel is outstanding and
appropriate for WebSights,
please email me the URL and describe how you use it to teach. The best site
monthly will receive a T-shirt. <macisadl@buffalostate.edu>
Some web sites for teaching
high school and introductory college Modern Physics topics. So-called
"modern physics" is a standard part of many state physics secondary
school standard curricula, usually including atomic physics phenomena such as
radioactive decay and the Rutherford experiment, and turn of the last century
quantum phenomena such as atomic spectra, the Bohr atomic model, the
photoelectric effect and the Millikan oil drop experiment. While excellent equipment are available
and should be part of every physics teacher's collection for teaching these topics,
outstanding online simulations are also available and the focus of this column.
Teaching about the Millikan Oil
Drop experiment: Amanda Dolan,
physical science teacher for Buffalo Public Schools reports a trio of websites
for teaching about the Millikan oil drop experiment. Ms. Dolan suggest first reviewing the experiment as a
QuickTime video walking the student through the experiment from <http://www.britannica.com/nobel/cap/omillik001a4.html>, then a simple simulation from the
Davidson College WebPhysics site: <http://webphysics.davidson.edu/applets/pqp_preview/contents/pqp_errata/cd_errata_fixes/section4_5.html> and finally a sophisticated applet
from the University of Alberta at <http://projects.cbe.ab.ca/sss/science/physics/map_north/applets/millikan/millikan.html>. Directories for these excellent sites exist at <http://www.britannica.com/nobel/>, <http://webphysics.davidson.edu/Applets/Applets.html>, and <http://projects.cbe.ab.ca/sss/science/physics/map_north/>. As well, Ms. Dolan commends the Alberta site's wave and
interference applets as well for classroom projection or individual student
use.
Teaching about the
Bohr Atom: Matt Greene, Physics Teacher at
Rush-Henrietta Sr. HS in Rochester, NY reports four web sites suitable for
teaching the Bohr Model. Mr. Greene
suggests starting with the lon-capa applet at <http://www.lon-capa.org/~mmp/kap29/Bohr/app.htm> to select electron transitions and
view corresponding energy diagrams and spectral lines for photon emission
only. In New York state, both
energy diagrams and spectral lines are required Regent's exam
representations. For a lengthier
conversational introduction, the Bohr Atom section of Physics2000 from the
University of Colorado <http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/quantumzone/bohr.html> shows both photon emission and
absorption. Walter Fendt's Bohr
applet at <http://www.walter-fendt.de/ph14e/bohrh.htm> is useful for selecting quantum
numbers and comparing wave and particle models. Finally the applet (again from the Davidson College Physics
folk) at <http://physics.gac.edu/~chuck/PRENHALL/Chapter%2031/AABXTEI0.html> is recommended –showing a nice
animation of any emission, though not the energy level diagram. Ed VonIderstein adds that a short
overview appropriate for HS students of the Bohr model for hydrogen is
summarized at a University of Florida site: <http://www.chem.ufl.edu/~chm2040/Notes/Chapter_9/bohr.html>.
Teaching about the
Photoelectric Effect: Ed VonIderstein, graduate student in
physics education reports his favorite java applet for teaching the
photoelectric effect is from the Quantum Phenomena simulations at the
University of Colorado PhET site <http://phet.colorado.edu/web-pages/simulations-base.html>. A less sophisticated site at <http://www.ifae.es/xec/phot2.html> is also helpful. A nice historical background for the PE
is given by the University of Virginia's Michael Fowler at <http://galileo.phys.virginia.edu/classes/252/photoelectric_effect.html>, and Dr. Pratibha Chopra-Sukumaran
adds that the website <http://www.launc.tased.edu.au/online/sciences/physics/photo-elec.html> from Launceston College, Australia
helps set up the PE conundrum addressed by Einstein's 1905 quantum
interpretation. Launceston hosts a
collection of online tutorials at <http://www.launc.tased.edu.au/online/sciences/physics/tutes1.html>.
Teaching about
radioactive decay and the Rutherford experiment: Mehmet
Demirtas, physical science teacher at The Buffalo Academy of Science Charter
School reports that his students liked the Physics2000 site applets showing
atomic decay <http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/isotopes/index.html>,
particularly the applet showing the various decay paths via an isotope table
applet. A related but more
sophisticated applet showing decay series via an animated nuclide chart is
found at <http://www.nuclides.net/NUCLIDES_2000/Applets/Radioactive_Decay.htm>. Radioactive decay applets abound
plotting exponential population decay
– for instance, see <http://www.lon-capa.org/~mmp/applist/decay/decay.htm>
and <http://www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/isotopes/radioactive_decay3.html>
from earlier mentioned sites.
An exceptional applet for visualizing the Rutherford experiment is
Michael Davidson's <http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/electromag/java/rutherford/>
from Florida State University, one of many from the Molecular Expressions
electricity and magnetism collection at <http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/electromag/java/index.html>
Many thanks to my fall 2006
PHY520 students for researching this month's column sites.